Westfest will be held at Elver Park on the Southwest Side of Madison this Saturday, Aug. 10, where music, food, resource tables, dunk tanks, and more will last from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This year’s festival will be its second iteration after its post-COVID lockdown relaunch last year.
District 20 Alder Barbara McKinney started Westfest in 2015 after the neighborhood lost its annual Fourth of July fireworks show due to lack of financial sponsorships. “Alder McKinney was wanting to fill that void,” Westfest organizer Eugene Crisler told Madison365.
Since the beginning, Westfest has had its community’s needs in mind. “What Westfest [does is] bring communities together on the West Side [and the] Southwest for resources, have fun with music, food, just collaborating together, and enjoying our time as the summer winds down,” Crisler explained.
The park will be filled with different stages hosting various genres of music and dance, along with a face painting booth, a Fun Express train station, a mega slide, a martial arts demonstration, and more.
Last year, in collaboration with the Urban League of Greater Madison’s fatherhood support group, the festival also had a Dunk-a-Dad station, where festival-goers had the opportunity to dunk local dads.
This year, organizers are hoping to have a similar Celebrity Dunk Tank featuring prominent community members and public servants, like retired MPD officers. “Come with extra clothes if you want to get wet, and a towel to get dry,” Crisler joked.
Resources from across the city will also be tabling at the festival, including the Madison Public Library and the mental health organization NAMI.
“We have many different people who have different needs and support services or resources that are going to be there to help connect with the community,” Crisler said.
Having grown up on the Southwest side of Madison, Crisler notes that Elver Park is unique in having “pretty much every opportunity” to be outdoors, from its baseball diamond to its disc golfing course, all the way to areas where families can have free cookouts.
“It’s a good space and a great opportunity to have communities collaborate together […] where it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg,” he said.
This sense of collaboration is at the heart of Westfest: “It’s really [about] investing in our community to build and get a sense of breaking down silos and having people and community organizations come together and build a holistic approach to community building,” Crisler emphasized.
He adds that Alder McKinney will be looking to community members to see if there is interest in bringing back a Fourth of July fireworks show to the neighborhood.
As for Westfest itself, Crisler hopes that this second year after the festival’s relaunch is only the beginning: “Our hope is that people leave knowing that Westfest is gonna stay and that their ideas and collaboration is welcome,” he said. “[We want to leave] them knowing that there is something here for them to have every year, and put a stamp on it.”
Those interested in hosting a resource table, volunteering, or participating in the dunk tank can reach out to Westfest’s organizers at [email protected].
